Blessings & Blue Skies

Sunday, June 12, 2016

“I am against Donald Trump for president in a really big
way.”

I just heard that on this week’s “On the Media” and couldn’t agree more.
The tyranny of Donald Trump is often on my mind these days. What has become of
this country? I get it that much of the populace is disaffected; but are they really
that racist and vapid to want a vulgar, unqualified, lying charlatan and neo-fascist as president? President!! As in highest office of the land, the person representing the United States of America in the global arena, the one we elect to lead us toward our highest collective aspirations and greatest well-being?

Until recently I thought of Trump as a clown, a freakish entertainment, like something from the circus. Alas, Chucky has overstayed his welcome. This guy is no clown; he is fundamentally un-American and frighteningly
dangerous. How do so many people not see that?

Question: What can I do to help end this disaster?

Answer: Support Hillary Clinton in as many ways as possible and vote for her.

This I surely will do. Honestly, I think Hillary is an excellent candidate. I would be voting for her, regardless of the Republican nominee. Hillary has been painted repeatedly as nefarious by her political opponents, despite the lack of merit to the accusations. I guess if you repeat a lie long and loud enough, people believe it. For my part, I take these claims with an eye to their right-wing source. The private email server claims are especially lame, since her predecessors did the same.

Hillary has been around for a long time. That’s a plus, not a shortcoming. She knows her way around the mean streets of DC. We know who she is--a tough politician whose heart is in the right place, a well-respected Secretary of State, a solid Senator able to consider all sides (e.g. supporting the Republican president over Iraq, given the evidence presented), and the clearest, loudest voice for the rights of the least among us (read women, children, the poor and everyone without employer-paid health care) from the very start of her career. This woman is smart (Yale Law School!) and, as noted, capable. She has made a difference in improving lives in every position she’s held. Donald Trump fired people before taking his show on the road. Where in his his sleazy, flip-flopping, bankrupt casino, reality TV world is there one credential, beyond his brags?

Qualifications aside, Donald Trump is breeding hatred, bigotry, violence, and disregard for our legal system, while encouraging people to act out on their lowest, fear-based, brawling proclivities. With The Donald as president, we’ll have less to fear Islamist terrorists. We’ll be more worried about the next insane thing our neighbors and co-workers will be egged on to do with the assault weapons they’re carrying (legally!) and itching to use.

I am afraid the inmates are very close to running the asylum, if they aren’t already. Again, what can I do?

In my mind’s eye I see a Hillary sign on my front lawn. Thinking it out a just a bit further, what happens if I do? Could there be consequences I don’t want?Donald Trump is a demagogue who encourages his supporters to violence. Trump has made it open season on “Mexicans” (but I think he means all Hispanics, regardless of country of origin, including US citizens!) and Muslims of every kind. How many millions of honest, law-abiding citizens does that mean?

Back to the "Vote for Hillary" sign. I am not really afraid of the people in my neighborhood, am I? It may just be a rumor (I keep meaning to check) but I was told that the Grand Dragon of the Klu Klux Klan at one time lived in this neighborhood. Donald Trump never heard of the Klan. Somehow I don’t believe him.

What I think doesn’t seem to make a difference. And it won’t, so long as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the rest of the Republican leadership are willing to support Trump even as they decry his racism. Since they have chosen to put political power ahead of the good of the nation, we could all be doomed.

What kind of spell has Trump managed to cast on these so-called leaders, anyway? Is there no line of moral despicability he could cross that would finally make a difference? Clearly, the ones he’s crossed already have not moved the needle. How does Trump’s shit not stink? Maybe it is true that he could shoot someone in broad daylight on 5th Avenue and get away with it. Think about it: THIS could be president. Could that really happen? If it does, thinking people will no longer be safe.

Meanwhile, I still my right to free speech. I absolutely do. But so do the trolls and purveyors of hate. Have you noticed them lately? I have. They torment people with unbearable threats of violence on social media. How is that legal? It’s not legal to beat up people who look Mexican or wear head-scarves, but that’s what our schools and streets are like these days. Face the truth, people. America has gotten mean and dangerous for non-whites and women. And it’s the meanest, acting-outest people who support Donald Trump. Soon they’ll be gunning for the 1% and anyone with a liberal arts degree. Oh wait. I have one of those.

If this is about me, then it is a personal dilemma, not a political one. If I can’t proudly support the first woman to run for president, someone super qualified and heads-above superior to her opponent who will attempt to maintain civil discourse for just a while longer, then what am I? What personal responsibility do I have in upholding this apparently fragile democracy? Maybe the time is NOW to look at my fears, deny their power over me and step into a greater consciousness. I SUPPORT HILLARY CLINTON. I WILL NOT BE AFRAID TO SAY SO!

If our rights come from a higher source, as the Founding Fathers declared, then what could I possibly be afraid of? I have history on my side!

More importantly, if I don’t choose faith over fear, how can I expect it of anyone else?

Hand me that lawn sign. And while we’re at it, get me a couple of bumper stickers, too! Hillary, I’m all in!

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Wow. It’s been over two years since I’ve blogged a word. Yes, I’ve been writing. Just not here. Life got very busy last year as I put the pedal to the metal in order to graduate last June. After that, I spent the summer in Arlington, VA at my daughter’s house taking care of my then new grandson. In September, 2015, I returned to work full-time at Silent Unity, completing my last series of Licensing and Ordination interviews in January this year and being ordained on January 31.

So I’m now Reverend Lesley--a immense, crazy goal achieved. A career in ministry begun. A life of my imagining manifested through the creative process. Can I hear an Amen!

It was disappointing that my family (read children, grandchildren, mother, siblings--no one) attended my graduation last June or ordination in January. The fact is, they have very little awareness of what my life is like, what’s important to me or how I contribute to the world. These are things I’m proud of. But, by now, I accept what is with them. It would have been nice to have had my loved ones here supporting me and celebrating my achievements. The hardest part was watching my colleagues embraced by their families at graduation last year. I got over it.

So, tonight is the next year's graduation and I will be there. Maybe that’s why I’m writing this now. My intention is to be free of negative, self-absorbed thoughts about perceived losses and share with a happy heart in my friends’ joy.

My truth is that while my own moments of celebration fell short of my desires, they were perfect. What made them perfect? They were my own! These were MY rites of passage, MY special moments marking the completion of the hard work I did and the great learning, sharing and growing I experienced in school and in training for ministry. My work is to serve others, not please my family or get strokes from them. How fortunate and grateful I am for my years at Unity Institute, and for the learning, friendships and personal growth that came with it. What a gift! Woohoo to me!

It’s not entirely sour grapes that my family wasn’t there. But seriously, it is completely their loss.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Hello, again! Yes, I’ve returned to blogging, which in this case meant
starting over from the beginning- Post 1. I had a blog a few years ago. If it
still exists somewhere in the ethers, it’s inaccessible to me now. Unfortunate.
Disappointing, and my own fault. Use it or lose it, as they say. Seems I
accidently erased the old account associated with the blog and failed to
retrieve it right away, which I could have done if I’d had the courage at the
time.

Keeping all the technology straight confounds me regularly—so
many accounts and passwords to juggle, computers that have gone kaput over the
years, files and backups I don’t want to think about. I have to admit to a low
threshold of tolerance with the ins and outs of all this technology.That said, I keep at it. If only at my own
pace, I haven’t given up the fight. I know where ‘the cloud’ is, I just haven’t
dared to go there yet.

All is well. Here’s a second chance at the Lesleyblueskies
blog! You gotta love second chances, right. The old blog name was, thankfully,
available. We’re back in business, boys and girls!

The good news is we occasionally get ‘do overs’ in life.
Yay!! Let’s acknowledge those blessings right here and right now. We don’t
‘expect’ them, but when they come it’s like grace, right. I like to appreciate
life’s unexpected gifts as ‘miracles.’ They happen all the time! Nothing
supernatural has to happen in order to experience a miracle. A miracle is a
shift in perception, a way of seeing things differently so that you see the
blessing in them, the possibility that wasn’t obvious before the shift
happened. I bet you can find a miracle right now if you look for it—the silver
lining in the gray cloud, the thing that wasn’t supposed to happen that opened
up something better, the detour that took you on a more beautiful side
road...If you can’t remember the last
time it happened, try looking for the next time. You’ll see what I mean.

Our everyday human, ego-based thoughts are limited. They
don’t look for rainbows; they look for how to survive because they are based in
fear of losing what we have or not getting something we want. The Truth is that
life is abundant, with unlimited possibilities we can’t even imagine in our
personalities. We forget that until we stop to remember we are divine
creations. God is unlimited. We are the Christ, inheritors of our heavenly
father’s unlimited nature. Whole worlds of possibility are always open to us in
every moment. But we forget. There’s more to us than we remember in our daily
lives.

How often do I remember in a day that I am God in expression
disguised as me, Lesley? Not as often as would benefit my crappy attitude,
that’s for sure! The frustrations, insecurities, fears and doubts that arise in
me regularly would have no foothold if my ego did not think it needed to run my
day. And there you have it—the cause of all my problems. My sense of being a
limited, separated ‘me’ is the source of any difficulty I experience ever. The
help and healing of those difficulties is remembering that is NOT the truth of
who I am. I AM is who I AM. Lesleyblueskies is at best an adorable self-image,
made up by me, lost and recovered countless times.

So let’s hear it for do-overs and second chances, the little
miracle moments that remind us God is in charge of the big picture and not our
limited selves! What a relief! Thank you, God.